Future member looking for advise

[Eeyore's Girl]

DH & I have been mulling over the DVC and have determined this is something we MUST do, although it will have to wait a year or so.

Until then, I'll do the research and get all the questions answered. Researching/planning Disney is almost as much fun as actually doing Disney.

My first question: How do we determine the Use Year that would best suit our family? What are some considerations that we may not be aware of, since we are sitting on this side of of the transaction?

Thanks for any help!




(That's me, second from the left!)

 

[PamOKW]

Use Year is not that important. The only time it becomes a concern is when you have to cancel a trip you are taking toward the end of your Use Year on short notice. During the last 60 days of your Use Year you can no longer bank any points nor make a reservation at a non-DVC option. (You can take a trip to a non-DVC option but you can't make the reservation during the last 60 days because DVC has to have time to "sell" your points to someone else to pay for your trip.)

For example, You have an April Use Year and book a trip for March. On Jan. 31, you find out you can't take that March trip. You are outside of 31 days cancellation notice so the points are all returned to you. However, as of Feb. 1 you are into the final 60 days of your Use Year. These points can only be used to stay at a DVC resort for trips through March 31 of that same year.

So, if you know you take your trip at a certain time of year every year, you can try to get a Use Year that matches this. For example, if you go in May every year, April is a good Use Year. However, since we will own DVC for a long time your travel timing may change, this might not be the ideal Use Year in 10 years when you discover Christmas is a better time to go. Or, you may find yourself traveling at all different times when picking an ideal "Use Year" would be impossible.

Just a reminder -- Use Year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation. That is always based on the 11 month for home resorts and 7 month for all resorts schedule.

 

[OneMoreTry]

I think use year is definitely an important consideration. If you have an October use year, then it will be very difficult to cancel a September trip and recoup your points after June. AFter August you will certainly lose them.

However, if you travel in December and cancel (with an October use year), you will have until the summer to decide whether to bank your points or rescedule. And even if you cancel at the last moment, you will still have until September to get a work-in spot.

So if you know when you will be travel I would strongly recommend a use year that begins just BEFORE your usual travel time.

 

[HookdonWDW]

I agree with Pam. Although you need to know when your UY is to keep from losing points, I think that we make a bigger deal of it on this board than it really is. Vacation habits change over time, and your ideal UY now may not be that great for you 10 years from now and vice versa.

Without equating changes in vacation schedules that are caused by growing families, kids and school/sport/job commitments, many of us find that we vacation differently after DVC than we did before we bought in.

Before we purchased DVC, we liked to travel at the end of the summer. Now we like to take a trip in the fall and another one in the spring... usually with a spur of the moment trip worked in somewhere .

I wouldn't let the UY keep me from buying a contract that was a great deal or at the resort that I really want. JMHO - YMMV.

 

[Disney Doll]

I would shoot for a mid year Use Year(July-Ocotber). I think it gives you the most flexibility if you have to cancel a vacation.

 

[Cruelladeville]

For us, the use year turned out to be a big deal, as I am a teacher. Since my vacations can only be taken in Easter, summer, and Christmas, my use year had to take this into consideration. I bought a contract with a Feb use year, which works well, except for Christmas. Cancelling a vacation then means that I lose my points. A March contract had the same problem, but I bought an August contract, so now I can use that at Christmas. In fact, I can use that for any vacation except in the summer, so I have a Feb contract for that. You have to decide how flexible your vacations will be, in order to decide whether use year is important or not.

 

[jarestel]

One thing to keep in mind about last minute cancellations - if you cancel a reservation from 1 - 30 days prior to arrival, those points cannot be banked regardless of when your use year is. You would have to use them in the current use year. So if your travel times are limited, use year won't save you in this case.